One of the best ways to earn the funds needed for a trip is through part time employment. Fast food restaurants and pizza parlors are good places to start. Consider posting flyers or going door to door in your neighborhood requesting odd jobs: lawn mowing, watering plants and taking care of pets to name a few. Be creative! We suggest that you include in that flyer why you are trying to raise funds.

For example, you can put in your flyer: “RAISING FUNDS FOR A STUDY TRIP TO FRANCE” – you might be surprised how many people respond to your flyer because they went on a similar trip as a young adult. Some might even give you a contribution in addition to a job.

Write an Active Letter Seeking Donations

Write letters requesting donations. Start with family and friends. Those closest to you are more likely to send you a donation. They may not be very large, but they add up! Send the letter to everyone you know.

NOTE ON FRAUD:

It is sad but there are some people who use fund-raising to raise money for their personal use rather than for the use advertised. Here is how you can avoid this. Go to your local bank and tell a banker that you are raising funds for an exciting Magellan Study Abroad program – banks often love to help young adults with these sorts of projects.

Tell the banker you are raising funds publicly for the trip and seeking donations. You want to make sure that the funds are accounted for properly and used for the right reason. Ask if you can set up an account at the bank for this purpose: receiving donations for Magellan Study Abroad summer program. They will help you with the procedures. Then, you can put in your letters, newspaper article, and other requests the line: “you can send your donations to Mary Smith’s Spain Trip, Local Bank, My Town.”

GoFundMe makes it super simple to fund raise online: http://www.gofundme.com. Simply sign up, create your donation website, share your link with friends and start collecting donations. You will automatically receive each donation in real-time. Write a short but engaging introduction piece about yourself, making sure there are no typos. Students feeling strongly about a study abroad or community service program they want to embark on come on the top of the list of donors. It’s now your turn to showcase your story. Remember: you have only one chance to make a good impression. Good luck!

In your community are civic organizations that go by different names: Rotary Club, Kiwanas, and Lions Club are examples of common civic organizations. These groups often love to participate in some way with a young adult who wants to go on a learning adventure. You can usually find phone numbers for them in local phone books and online. Contact the leader; ask to speak to him or her directly. Go and make your presentation to the leader. There is a good chance you will be invited to speak to the club both before and after your trip. Don’t be bashful about asking for donations. Be honest: the trip is expensive and you are in need of all the help you can get!

1) There are a lot of people who will give you a donation if they know what you are doing: get the word out!

2) The people most likely to help you are friends and family, foreign language clubs, civic clubs and international organizations.

3) Don’t be shy. Appear in person whenever possible! It is easy to ignore an email; it is hard to ignore a person sitting in front of you. People respond to a young adult who has an educational goal and is asserting himself or herself to make it happen.

4) Offer to make appearances to groups both before and after the trip. When you appear before the trip, make a presentation on what you hope to learn and suggest input from your listeners. When you make the presentation afterward, emphasize what you learned and how you will be a better person because of the experience.

Good luck! And please write to us about your fundraising experience.

We want to know how well you did and how you did it.